Teachers told how to spot terrorist pupils

Teachers are to be offered guidance on how to spot terrorist pupils in the
classroom.

A £3,500 conference in Cornwall will offer advice on identifying children at risk of developing extremist views. Teachers will be told to monitor children who make unusual comments or whose families appear to live on the fringes of society.

The conference is being funded by the county council as part of the Home Office's anti-terror strategy. The Government said a similar scheme was already in place for teachers across the country.

David Hampshire, the county's religious education adviser, said: "Just because we're far away in Cornwall, this agenda is still important in preventing violent extremism."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: the conference "tells how to recognise who could potentially be coerced into extremism – for instance if they're saying unusual things or living on society's fringe."

But civil rights groups said the scheme was "terrifying".

Corinna Ferguson of Liberty, the human rights group, told The Sun: "We should be working on more positive things with young people rather than treating them as suspects."